Advanced Configuration

Usually, DMK configures the environment automatically. In some rare cases it must be adapted. And DMK gives you the possiblility to define your own aliases and variables.

Aliases & Variables Management

The following paragraphs explain how to create your own aliases and variables.

Declare an alias

Aliases are declared using the following syntax

alias::<name>::[var|novar]_[force|noforce]::<your code>::# comment

• [var|novar]

  • var : creates automatically a variable with the name of the alias with the path specified in the alias. The alias cdh='cd $ORACLE_HOME' creates a variable cdh=$ORACLE_HOME

  • novar : doesn’t create the above variable

• [force|noforce]

  • force : if a command or an alias already exists it’s overwritten

  • noforce: a warning is printed instead of overwriting the existing alias or command

Example of a warning printout

2012-06-22_15-31-19::DMK.pm::ComputeConfig ::WARNING ==> $DMK_HOME\\etc\\dmk.conf alias/command "u" is already in use, Please use FORCE option to override it

For Windows you can explicitly specify if an alias is for cmd.exe or powershell. Add the suffix @cmd or @ps1 to the alias name (e.g. env@cmd).

If you specify an alias for ps1 and it is enclosed in brackets (...) it will be used as-is as a function definition (aliases are implemented as functions). Otherwise, DMK tries to reformat it as a function.

Declare a variable

Variables are declared using the following syntax

var::<name>::[ =|+|-]::[ begin|end|nooption|warn|nowarn]::<your value>::

• [=|+|-]

  • = : Equal operator

  • • : expand an existing variable

  • : contract, remove element from a variable

• [begin|end|noption|warn|nowarn]

  • begin/end : works only with the operators [+|-]

  • nooption|warn : default behave print a warning in case the variable exists

  • nowarn : disable warning and overwrites the variable

Example of a warning printout

2012-06-22_18-46-09::DMK.pm::ModifyConfigVar ::WARNING ==> Variable : ORACLE_BASE has been overwritten

2012-06-22_18-46-09::DMK.pm::ModifyConfigVar ::WARNING ==> Old value : /u01/app/grid

2012-06-22_18-46-09::DMK.pm::ModifyConfigVar ::WARNING ==> New value : "/u01/app/oracle"

For Windows, you can specify variables in Unix ($ORACLE_HOME) or Windows (%ORACLE_HOME%) notation. DMK rewrites it to the required syntax.

Migration from BasEnv (or other software) to DMK

BasEnv is an Oracle environment software from the former company Trivadis AG (now Accenture). This software is similar to DMK. The difference in the usage: Some aliases, variables and scripts have a different name (e.g. BE_ORA_DB_NAME vs. DMK_ORA_DB_NAME). If you migrate from BasEnv to DMK, see Migration to DMK

ORACLE Perl Configuration

DMK uses the "perl" executable from the current ORACLE_HOME. It determines automatically the required library path (PERLLIB).

For the initial startup (source dmk.sh) it uses the Perl found via the $PATH variable, or you can specify a Perl binary in the environment variable $PERL_EXEC. If both are missing, it tries to use the Perl of the 1st ORACLE_HOME in the oratab.

The easiest way is to use the Perl version shipped by the OS which is in the $PATH (/usr/bin/perl). For Windows we recommend Strawberry Perl.

It is not recommended to use the Perl of an installed ORACLE_HOME for the initial startup. If you remove it once, the environment no longer works…